Psychological distress is associated with altered cognitive functioning in family caregivers of patients with disorders of consciousness

Abstract

Family caregivers' burden is associated with a reduced efficiency of selected executive measures and visuospatial learning. These results emphasize the need for appropriate psychological and cognitive supporting therapies for family caregivers of patients with DOC, also considering their delicate involvement in clinical decision-making and in providing care.

’Less is more’: validation with Rasch analysis of five short-forms for the Brain Injury Rehabilitation Trust Personality Questionnaires (BIRT-PQs)

“…Manifestations of these changes might range from apathy, impulsivity, and extreme sensitivity to criticism, to aggression and difficulties building and/or maintaining a reciprocal relationship. Furthermore, neurobehavioral disability has been strongly associated with poor health outcomes on the quality of life of subjects post-ABI and their caregivers (3,4,5). Interestingly, neurobehavioral changes due to ABI were better predictors of subjective family distress than disease severity or cognitive impairments (6).…”

Multicentre registry of brain-injured patients with disorder of consciousness: rationale and preliminary data

“…Moreover, patients with DoC can develop many severe clinical complications, capable of influencing mortality rates and cognitive and functional outcomes (Ganesh et al, 2013;Pistoia et al, 2015;Pascarella et al, 2016), and requiring appropriate expertise for their optimal management . As a consequence, long-term management of these patients has a growing impact on a number of levels: clinical, economic and ethical (Whyte and Nakase-Richardson, 2013;Moretta et al, 2014Moretta et al, , 2017Sattin et al, 2017). In this context, correct diagnosis, reliable estimations about clinical evolution, and identification of valid prognostic markers are all crucial to allow clinicians and patients' families to take appropriate decisions concerning treatment and care (Fins, 2016;Estraneo and Trojano, 2017).…”

The unidimensionality of the five Brain Injury Rehabilitation Trust Personality Questionnaires (BIRT-PQs) may be improved: preliminary evidence from classical psychometrics

“…The latter plays a central role in determining the overall outcome of patients with TBI, even more than cognitive impairments (9)(10)(11)(12). Furthermore, it has been proven that these non-cognitive neurobehavioral impairments are good predictors of caregivers' burden, patients' quality of life in terms of independent living, intimate relationships' development, employment's acquisition or maintenance, independently of the severity of the brain injury (13)(14)(15). Neurobehavioral disability has also been described in nontraumatic acquired brain injuries (nt-ABI).…”